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Blackbaud Reveals This Year’s Most Fascinating Philanthropy Stats
Reports the latest statistics from trusted industry sources for a current snapshot of philanthropy in America
Charleston, S.C. (December 19, 2016) — Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good, today announced that its comprehensive, trusted collection of 50 Fascinating Philanthropy Stats has been updated with trend data from the sector’s latest reports. These statistics cover a wide scope of topics from donor characteristics, platform preferences, overall giving performance complete with context and analysis.
“As seen in this collection, the vast majority of giving to nonprofits comes from individuals, and that trend has been true for quite some time, foundations make up another 16 percent of giving and the rest comes from corporations and bequests,” said Steve MacLaughlin, Blackbaud’s vice president of Data and Analytics. “These 50 statistics paint a picture of the sector’s performance so that fundraising professionals, media, partner organizations, and others can easily sort through the trends that matter to them.”
This Year’s Top 10 Fascinating Philanthropy Statistics:
- $373.25 billion was donated to United States charitable causes in 2015
- 90% of total reported revenue comes from 2.39% of organizations
- The top four sub-sector recipients of giving: Religion, Education, Human Services and Foundations
- 71% of U.S. charitable giving that comes from individuals
- 9.2% increase in online fundraising during 2015 in the U.S.
- 4% of overall giving occurred in December 2015
- The retention rate for first-year donors is 29% and jumps to 58.4% for multi-year donors
- Nearly 10% of online donations are made on mobile devices
- Mobile-responsive websites and donation forms lead to a 34% increase in conversion rates
- $8 billion opportunity to increase annual workplace, point of sale and donor-advised funds giving
While overall giving is up in 2015 compared to 2014, the amount of giving that happens in December has been on the decline for the last several years. “It’s a trend we’ll continue to see as giving gets diversified throughout the rest of the year—certainly a good thing for nonprofits as they try to balance their gift intake over the course of the calendar year,” MacLaughlin noted.
Additional findings show the giving habits and preferences of donors also vary greatly based on their age. Baby Boomers give to an average of 4.5 organizations while millennials give to an average of 3.3. How they give is also different, over 60 percent of millennials would be willing to give via mobile device, while 53 percent of Generation X donors have given via their workplace.
Blackbaud also points out that the combination of a mobile-responsive website and a mobile-responsive donation forms lead to a 34 percent increase in conversion rates for nonprofits. “With millennials and other groups, mobile has definitively arrived as a giving platform. Just over 16 percent of donors give from an email on a mobile device, and a high percentage of event registrants for local runs and walks sign up from emails on a mobile device,” MacLaughlin added. “This data stresses the importance of having a mobile-friendly website, email and donation forms all working together in a seamless experience.”
As new reports continue to be released from different sources across the sector, Blackbaud will update these numbers so that the latest data trends are available in one convenient location. Visit www.blackbaud.com/50stats to learn more about Blackbaud’s collection of 50 fascinating philanthropy stats.
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through software, services, expertise, and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and relationship management, digital marketing, advocacy, accounting, payments, analytics, school management, grant management, corporate social responsibility, and volunteerism. Serving the industry for more than three decades, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.
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